Stijn Grove, CEO Dutch Datacenter Association is giving on June 8 his keynote speaker speech during the 7th edition of the Internet of Things Event at High Tech Campus Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Here he gives an impression what it will be about.

“The possibilities and chances of the Internet of Things are by far greater than most people can imagine,” according to Stijn Grove, managing director of the Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA). “In the past years more and more electronic equipment got connected, that is what started Internet of Things to grow. For instance, the once so much used mobile phone has become a smartphone with an app for calling someone. But the device itself offers far more possibilities with many different apps that can be used for a great number of different things. These developments are going faster and faster nowadays and offer a host of possibilities and challenges.”

It is expected that in 2020 more than twenty billion devices will be part of Internet of Things (IoT). Not only smartphones, tablets, laptops will be connected, but also tools like kitchen appliances, lightning, heating in your house and many professional instruments. This will deliver an enormous amount of data that is processed in data centers.

Being able to control IoT devices remotely can have very positive effects

“In France central heating of houses is largely done electric. By having smart, connected thermostats, that can be regulated remotely, the energy companies are able to manage the power consumption. By lowering the temperature only half a degree, not noticeable by the customer, they are able to manage peaks in the energy consumption. With this they have a far more steady demand and are able to switch off power stations, which saves a lot of energy”, tells Grove. “IoT also has potential challenges, as we more and more rely on digital services and digital infrastructure it needs to work continuously. Otherwise our society and economy are in great trouble. Luckily this is mostly solved by the high level of redundancy in our digital infrastructure.”

Internet of ‘Shit’

One of the business sectors were IoT is used daily, are milk diaries. The dairy cows wear a necklace which sends info about the cows’ condition and their activities. Connected to the milking machines, all info is gathered and providing insight in the animals’ health as well their milk production. Also, it provides insight if they get sufficient food and what is the effect on their milk quality and production and if adjustment of their feeding is needed to improve productivity.

This information is not only important for the farmer, but also for the supplier of the food as well for the milk diary a few miles away. The farmers can compare their information to that of their fellow farmers, so as to improve their production and efficiency. Cows and farmers know a lot about manure, but the operators of our sewer systems also make use of IoT, or as they call it, the ‘internet of shit’. “In our day to day life are dependent on a well operating sewer system and therefore, there is a lot of pressure on the sewer companies. Managers of the sewers want to know exactly what is going on in their network and use IoT to see and measure what is flushed in the sewer,” tells Grove.

“There are a great number of different waste products in the water which have to be removed at a later stage. Think of medicines and plastics of any kind. Monitoring of the sewage waters is crucial as at no point it is permitted that a cesspit develops that contains water that does not apply with the law. They make use of a Long Range Low Power (LORA) network which sends the info to be analysed.”

Dutch hubs coming to together

Aforementioned examples of current IoT technology already being used is also why the IoT event in Eindhoven is so important. To learn more on how the devices and the infrastructure is connected. Grove: ”With Eindhoven as one of the most important development hubs of electronic devices in the world, and with the greater Amsterdam area, the international data center hub, as the Digital Gateway to Europe, we see two worlds that are coming together. With the positive effect of the development of beautiful new things.”

For more information and registration to the Internet of Things Event, please visit https://iotevent.eu/

The interview was made by Jakajima, the organiser of the conference. For more interviews with speakers at Jakajima conferences, we invite you to visit Jakajima’s website